A Where's Waldo Christmas

Christmas number two has come and gone and although I missed being at home and spending it with family I was able to have a great time with my Peace Corps family and some of our Azerbaijani friends. Christmas Eve Eve was spent in Mingechevier where we had some Ming nog, went to a wild west themed restaurant called Wild West, and played some American Football with a team of Azerbaijanis.

Ucar Bike Club and Other News

So I know that it has been a while since I have posted so I guess I better give it another crack. I am approaching the half way point of my service and it things are again in transition. The previous group of volunteers are leaving to be replaced with a new group that will be coming next month. Although i will miss the friends that I have made in the previous group it will be nice to have a new group come in. Ucar is getting two new volunteers which will really change things up here for me. Thus far I have been the only one in my community and it has been a little lonely. I am looking forward to having some company.

As for work, I have been a little busier as of late with my newest project the bicycle club. It has been a ton of fun and a pretty big hit in Ucar. We bought ten bikes from Baku in October and have been showing them off around Ucar. We have been doing weekly rides around the city and they get quite a lot of attention from everyone. A line of ten kids in helmets riding bikes and ringing the bells is a bit strange in Ucar. Luckily almost all of the responses from community members has been very positive. Everyone wants a chance to ride the bikes even the older men of the community. It is actually really funny to watch how they act when they get on the bikes. They change from dour and serious old men to little kids laughing and ringing the bells like mad.

At the moment it has gotten a little too cold to do much riding but we hope to start back up in the spring when it warms up again. I am very much looking forward to it. Below are some pictures from our first ride.

The ABLE Experience

So this past week I had the opportunity to participate in the Azerbaijan Boys' Leadership Experience (ABLE) up at an Istirahat Merkezi (Relaxation Center) in a town up near the mountains called Qebela. It was a great time. There were forty-seven boys that came from regions all over Azerbaijan and learned about leadership, teamwork, and civic engagement. We divided the boys up into four different teams and and I was one of the team leaders. The boys in my team chose the name "Fireland Gang" and the other teams were "White Lighting", "The Twelve Winners" and the "Red Dragons". Though out the camp each team was awarded points for completed various activities and winning certain games. When all was said and done the Fireland Gang won by a landslide which was a pretty proud moment for us all. We even recieved MEDALS!!! Anyway here are some highlights from the week.

My camper that I brought from Ucar, Ferid, getting his medal from the Ambassador

The US Ambassador talking to the ABLE campers about leadership

One of the better acts of the talent show where the guy with the sunglasses imitated the different Americans getting thier bad Azeri down just right

Camp mascot "Air Bud" and my team leader Muslim

Morning Exercises

Morning Meeting

One cool dude

Georgian Vacation

These days I spend most of my time hiding from the sun. It has gotten really hot here in the Ucar with temperatures reaching 100 degrees F in the shade pretty much every day. Going out during the day has become a daunting task so I try not to as much as possible. It is especially hard in Ucar as I have just returned from a little vacation up North in Georgia. The Georgian border is only about five hours travel from where I am now but it is amazing how much things can change in such a short distance. The land turned from flat and dusty desert to rolling green hills with the Caucus mountains rising up in the background. Upon entering the country I immediately realized that no one spoke Azeri. All of the sudden I was a mute. Hand gestures and the word Tblisi were pretty much the only things my fellow travelers and I had at our disposal but it turns out that is all you need. Despite the language barrier we made it to our hostel fairly easily and had an amazing time eating delicious Georgian food, walking around the beautiful city, and getting scrubbed down and massaged in the turkish bath houses. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

First up are a few pictures the Lavra monastery which was founded in the 6th century and flourished until the invasion of the Mongols in 1265 CE. It was restored in the 14th century but again sacked and pillaged in 1615 CE by the Persians who massacred 6000 monks but then restored again in 1675 CE. Later after the USSR took control of Georgia it was used as a barracks for soldiers and wasn't inhabited again by monks until the mid-nineties.

Cool Graffiti

I won!

Friends and some guy clinging onto Jim

Cool Graffiti

A Bike Ride in Agjabedi

This weekend I had a chance to take a trip out to the town of Agjabedi and participate in a 50k bike ride with a few other Americans and about twenty Azerbaijanis. It was a whole lot of fun getting outside and doing something active for once. We had a Police escort for the whole ride and drew quite a crowd of interested people while we were riding through the city. After we got out of the city however it was pretty quite. The pace was pretty slow and leisurely with lots of breaks. We even stopped at a tea house for cookies and tea to keep up our stamina.

Break time with our friendly police escort up front. They were nice enough to occasionally blast Azeri songs over their loudspeaker so that we could have some entertainment. Also yelled at cars to slow down as they passed our group.

Relaxing in the shade and refueling with tea and cookies.

One of the shepherds that we met during our lunch stop. They were very excited to meet us and see what we were all about. They even let a few people ride their horses for a bit.

This is me right before I broke the pedal on my bike and was relegated to riding in one of the cars in our entourage.

Support Creative Writing in Azerbaijan!!!

Well, let’s pretend I am a bird. I can do anything I want. I can fly, and the whole world is mine. The Sky is mine. I love traveling by air, of course. Also I have a “Green Card” to all of the countries. Have I ever been to Egypt or Italy? Sure! I know a lot of people who is dreaming about these countries, who want to see the Pyramids and the ancient Rome. –Sabina, Age 16

Greetings Friends and Family!

The above quote is taken from one of the winning submissions from the 2011 Writing Olympics competition we just held here in Azerbaijan.

The Writing Olympics is a creative English writing competition where students are given one hour (on a selected date) to write on one of three topics (in accordance to their form or year in university). They are not permitted to use dictionaries or other resources. They are judged not on grammar, but instead on the idea, the overall “essence” of their essay. This year Azerbaijan has also created a “professionals” category, which gives individuals who may not fit into the school categories a chance to compete too (this includes moms and teen girls who aren’t in university). The goal of the event is to help cultivate creative writing and, even more importantly, creative thinking.

We need your help to make this event a success! The winning students will have their essays published in a book which they will receive, along with a certificate, at an awards ceremony. Unfortunately, publication here is expensive. Your donation, which can be made at http://tinyurl.com/WODonate, will help us ensure that our students will remember this event, and their creative selves, forever. Your donation will help to pay for the publication of the book as well as the printing of certificates, the purchase of dictionaries and the awards ceremony.

Our goal isn’t much; it’s a little under $2,000 USD. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Easter has come and gone and it looks like a brutal summer is on its way in. Already the thermometer on my porch is reading eighty-five in the shade and its only going to get hotter. The plus side is that I will be able to do Bikram Yoga without paying a hundred dollars a month to go to a studio. This last month has been an interesting one. It seems like just yesterday that I was complaining about the cold and the muddy streets. After a few weeks of rain everything is blossoming like mad. Coming from the Northwest distinct seasons are very strange.

I spent this last Easter in Baku mostly for Early Service Training which was a lot of fun. About half of us went and it was really good seeing everybody all together again. The training was for two days and then we had the weekend to ourselves. Baku is a really interesting city and a lot of fun areas to explore. This last trip we found an old Russian Orthodox Christian church that was elaborately painted and decorated. We also visited a brewery for lunch and the owner was very excited to see Americans that could speak Azerbaijani. He gave us a personal tour of his resturant and brewery and you could tell that he was very proud of his little operation. We also found this old run down theater that had been converted into a ping-pong club filled with smoke and sweaty old men competing like thier life was on the line. On Saturday night we ended up staying with a very welcoming couple that worked for BP. The next morning we all went to the Catholic Church for Easter Mass where we got to meet the American Ambassador and chat for a bit.

It is always strange returing to Ucar after being in Baku with a bunch of Americans. It is like I was back home for a bit and able to hang out with friends and do what I want but then I come back to the real world and I am in Ucar where no one speaks English and I am back in the fish bowl. It is getting easier though as I learn the language and make more friends. Overall I really like where I am at and wouldn't change it for the world.

Novrus and Growing Up

So Novrus has come and gone. The rain and miserable snow has stopped leaving the streets free of the mud that sticks to my shoes.Now when the wind blows the air is filled with dust, but the sun is shining and it is warm. Not hot yet, but warm. I think that the lack of any sort of central heating or air conditioning has made me much more aware of the changing seasons. After a winter of continually being cold, at work and at home, this warm weather is wonderful. To mark the coming of spring here in Azerbaijan the people celebrate a holiday called Novrus. Novrus is kind of wierd mix of Easter and Hollloween with some other random traditions thrown in. The kids go around to all the houses and collect candy in thier hats. There is decorating of eggs but instead of hiding the eggs they "fight" them. The eggs are hard-boiled and each person holds the one egg then they hit them against eachother. The egg that shows a crack first loses and the winner gets to keep that egg. The other fun thing they do is jump over bonfires and as they jump over leaving all thier bad luck in the fire.

Work has been going pretty well lately, still mostly English tutoring and conversation which is fine, but I also just submitted a grant to purchase twenty bikes for my organization to start a bike club. If it gets approved I should be getting the money in late June and have the bike club up and running this summer which will be a lot of fun. It is really hard to believe that I am already a quarter of the way through my service. Even though I miss home a lot sometimes, I am really enjoying my time here and it is going fast. The more I get to know the people here the more I like them. I think many of them are shocked that I would go so far away from my family and home so they like to take care of me and watching out for me.

Following Novrus I was able to move out on my own and now live in a two bedroom house by myself. After nearly six months of living with a host family I can cook what I want to eat when I want to eat and only eat as much as I want. Living like a grown up again is very refreshing. It does come with its own set of new challenges though. I have to do my own laundry which is interesting.

Here are some pictures from the Novrus celebration and also of my new house.

My Kitchen Sink

Porch and Garden

Hammock

Novrus Celebration At the Culture House

I remember when I was little and my family moved from Utah to Washington. I must have been about six years old and the move was a pretty big deal for me at the time though I don't remember much of it. I remember going to the train station and vague impressions of baggage carts and a spacious building, people hurrying about. Then later on the train being lulled to sleep by the rythm of the train tracks clacking away. Once we were in the new house I had a dream that I was back in Utah and when I woke up I hurried to the window to see if it was true only to be disappointed when I saw that i was still in Washington. Over the past few months I have often found myself having the same experience, only instead of walking to the window I will try and go back to sleep to try and recapture the faded dream. Mainly I think these dreams stem from a longing for the familar. As I become more accustomed to life here in Ucar however this desire for the familiar is fading and slowly being replaced by the strange fact that life here is starting to be familar. I have a routine and the language is every so slowly starting to make sense. I am even making friends and getting involved in the lives of the people that I live and work with.

There are still a lot of suprises though, for instance my host family frequently makes what is kind of like chicken soup with potatoes and onions and pieces of chicken. The chicken is usually still on the bone along with the skin. I know that some people like to eat the skin but that is one things that I am not a fan of and my host family thinks that it is wierd that I peel the skin off before eating the chicken. The other day I was eating this chicken soup and there was a particularly large piece of meat that I was working on. I had peeled the skin off and was picking it up to take a bite of what I thought was meat but as my teeth made contact I realized was bone. A little confused I turned it around searching for a tasty morsel when instead I saw an eye staring up at me then I saw the little waddle of skin that chickens have just above thier beak. I put the chicken head back in the soup but the eye was still staring right at me so I covered it up with a loose piece of chicken skin and pushed the bowl away. I think Azerbaijan is making me want to be a vegetarian.

Anyway here are some pictures of the places where I spend most of my time in Ucar;

Some of the students that I tutor

Computer Room at Akinchi

My orginization Akinchi

My room

...

Alright, sorry that it is coming a bit late but here is an update on where things stand with me an my new buddy Said. Here are the contents of the letter that I wrote him back and gave to him the other day;

Hello Said,

I am well, how are you? My name is Daniel Farmer it is nice to meet you. I am twenty-seven years old. I am from Seattle, WA but now I live in Ucar. Thank you for the very nice letter and I would be very pleased to be friends with you.

Dan

P.S. All your free base are belong to us.

His response came the next day. Inside was another letter and a floral print card. The card said, "You very good human!" and was scented with a nice perfume. The letter goes;

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for the nice letter. Letter is very good. When is your birthday? What is your phone number? May I call you? What is you job? Do you speak Azerbaijan? What is your Ucar address? May I see you again? See you soon!

Said

It has been about a week since this last letter and I haven't seen him since.

I Am a Pretty Big Deal

Being in Azerbaijan has been interesting to say the least. One of the strangest things that I have had to deal with is the fact that I do NOT blend in. Diversity is something that I think I took for granted in the US. Generally speaking most people here have dark brown or black hair along with dark eyes. Anyone that breaks this rule stands out like a sore thumb. I remember seeing a couple of red headed kids after being in Azerbaijan for a few months and I could not stop staring. It was such a strange sight. What were these kids doing in an Azeri school? Where did they come from? We even tried to get the ginger (Jake you know who you are) that was part of our language group to sneak a picture with them. Being American we also stand out like a sore thumb. I am taller than most everybody in Ucar, I wear funny clothes and shoes, my eyes are green and my hair is light brown. Also the fact that I am the ONLY American in Ucar adds to my notoriety. It is strange because everyone seems to know who I am ( if only as "the American") while at the same time I know almost no one. As a result I have random people coming up to me on my way to or from work wanting various different things. One man, a taxi driver, drove up to me and wanted to show me a house that I might want to rent. Others come up asking me to teach them English. School children will walk in groups behind me practicing broken English phrases that they want to say to me and then giggling like mad before getting embarrassed and running off. Most recently on my way home from work a kid spotted me from across the street and then made a b-line straight at me. He handed me an envelope. Written on the front it was addressed "To: You" and underneath that is said, "From: Said". He tried to run off but I engaged him in conversation for a bit in azeri. Then abruptly he said, "at home read" and booked it, clearly shaken that I wanted to talk to him. Here is the content of said letter:

Hello!

How are you? What is your name? My name is Said. I'm 15. How old are you? Hither came as you much humans but you very good. What city are you from? I am from Ucar. I want to be friend. Do you to be pleased? If you to be pleased, tomorrow around of school reply letter give me. You write reply. See you tomorrow!!!

This was all written in pink sparkly ink and at the end three stars were added for emphasis. Lacking was any indication of where I would see him aside from outside of one of the six schools in the area. Of course I must reply, but what should I say? Any suggestions?

So it has been three weeks at site and I am settling into my community. Things are going pretty well but at times I do feel pretty isolated. Almost no one here speaks English so it is a constant struggle to communicate. It is good for my language though. I did get to spend the holidays with other volunteers though and that was nice. There was a small Christmas party in the nearby town of Kurdemir with about fifteen other volunteers and then last weekend most of the volunteers went into Baku for the New Year which was a lot of fun, but very strange. Going to Baku is like going to another country. It is a VERY beautiful but expensive city, especially on a Peace Coprs budget. There was an amazing firework show and lots of lights strung up. In the city center there was a HUGE Christmas tree and you could get pictures with Santa Clause (shaxta babba) and his side kick Snow Girl (qar qiz). They do some of the same things that we do for Christmas mostly just lump it all in with New Years. Also Santa Clause is not fat and sometimes wears a very creepy Santa mask.

I also ended up staying with my old host family for a few days and had the VERY strange sensation of coming home. I only lived there for three months but compared to where I am now it is the most familiar place that I have access to. The people here are so kind and it suprised me how much I had missed my old host family and how much they had missed me. I was greeted with hugs and kisses from everyone and immediately fed too much food.

Now that the Holidays are over though I have to start doing some real work. Up till now things have been pretty quite and mostly I have just been going around the city trying to meet as many people as I can, which isn't too hard as people often come up to me wanting to know why I am here and what I am doing. I hope to start some English conversation clubs over then next month and also get started on planning for a few grant proposals. My host organization wants to start a bike club which I think would be lots of fun for the spring and summer.

I went to the bazar the other day just to do some exploring and a man came up to me and said that he knew my counterpart Almusa and started chatting with me. He took me over to his jewelry store and showed me around a bit, then asked me if I was married. I told him that I was not and then he said that I should come to his store if I ever wanted to "qadin almaq" which translates directly as, "to buy a woman". I thought he was asking me to go visit a prostitute with him and immediately got a wierd look on my face said no and then walked away. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized he was saying that if I ever wanted to get married, which is what "qadin almaq" actually means, that I should come to his store to buy an engagement ring. While it is kind of funny these types of misunderstandings happen with incredible frequency and are actually pretty stressful, but I guess that is why I signed up. Lately I have been thinking a lot about why I decided to do this and this qoute by Viktor Frankel came to mind, " When we are no longer able to change a situation...we are challenged to change ourselves." To be immersed in a foreign culture is a hard thing to do but forces a person to change. Even in the short time that I have been here I have been forced to grow and adapt. It has been hard at times and isn't likely to get easier for a while, but I do believe that it is worth it.

Things I have grown to like:

Mayonaise and beet based salad

Dolma of every variety

Baklava

Twenty glasses of tea every day

The kindness of strangers

Things that I will NEVER like:

Xash AKA Boiled Cow Hoof Soup

Any and all animal organs

Squat Toilets

Showering once a week

Frequent power outages

Schister taxi/marshrutka drivers